The Tax Bill Passed Congress & People Are Not Too Happy About It

It's happening, people. Despite a majority of American citizens — 47 percent — who oppose the bill, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Dec. 20, the Senate voted along party lines to pass a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code. The House followed with a final vote on Wednesday, and the bill is headed towards President Donald Trump's desk. Many people are not happy. These tweets about the passage of the tax bill tell it all: anger, shock, and... nihilism.

Early on Dec. 19, the House of Representatives voted along party lines to pass the wildly unpopular tax bill (according to a poll from Monmouth University released on Monday, 47 percent of Americans opposed the bill). And though they had to vote again, thanks to a "procedural snag," the re-vote was more of a technicality than anything else. So when the Senate voted to pass the bill, it was pretty much all over. It happened, despite last-ditch efforts from Senate Democrats like Connecticut's Chris Murphy, who appeared on Maddow the night of the Senate vote.

If the myriad warnings from organizations like the Tax Policy Center and the Congressional Budget Office aren't enough, the bipartisan Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found in a report released on Dec. 18 that the middle class only gets 23 percent of the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts — and their taxes will increase within a decade.

So, you know, people are understandably upset about this sweeping bill that will change the very face of the United States's economy — it's the first overhaul of the tax code in more than 30 years. So, many people have taken to Twitter to express their feelings. And a lot of them aren't happy.

Democratic politicians are downright furious about the bill.

Everyone from New York's Kirsten Gillibrand to Oregon's Jeff Merkley has been sounding the alarm on what they're calling the "GOP Tax Scam" for weeks. But because Republicans Susan Collins and Bob Corker (among others) agreed to vote for the bill, there was nothing for the Democrats to do, because of their minority in the Senate.

And while many citizens were upset, they took comfort in the idea of flipping Congress to a Democratic majority with the 2018 elections.

There's always 2018? 2020? THE FUTURE, RIGHT??

Some people were able to inject a bit more humor into the situation.

And some people have clearly just given into the nihilism.

I mean, sure, it's a legislative win, but, y'know, $1.5 trillion could pay for a lot.

Like, a lot.

Once the vote was made final on Wednesday with the House, people shared their truest feelings about it all on Twitter.

While many people hope that should Congress flip to a Democratic majority in 2018, the tax bill will be reversed, it's not exactly that simple. The Democrats in Congress would have to decide to completely rewrite the tax code, again, and go through the voting process, again. As we saw this year, it's not easy — even with a party majority.

Americans will mostly see the effects from this tax bill in April 2019, when the country files taxes for the 2018 year. Before then, there may be some changes seen — especially for people who pay quarterly taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said in a statement on Dec. 13 that taxpayers may see changes "as early as February" after the bill takes effect on Jan. 1, 2018. You can try out The New York Times' tax bill calculator to see how it may effect you.

But the fact of the matter is that the GOP's new tax bill has officially passed. The only thing to do now is await your 2018 tax filing... or take to the streets in protest... or get to the polls in 2018.